"Unlike wishes expressed in political parties’ manifestoes to woo voters, presidential aspirants should be prepared to make policy promises and be prepared to be questioned, during the campaign sessions, about how they intend to keep their promises. In other words, this year’s elections, the third in our new democratic dispensation, should be contested on policy issues rather than on who is the youngest, oldest or most handsome to be president."
By Patrick Hassan-Morlai
Napoleon Bonaparte is often quoted to have once said that “the best way to keep one’s word is not to give it”. But in an election year in Sierra Leone, the last thing Sierra Leoneans would expect from their presidential aspirants is to be silent over issues of national importance.
Unlike wishes expressed in political parties’ manifestoes to woo voters, presidential aspirants should be prepared to make policy promises and be prepared to be questioned, during the campaign sessions, about how they intend to keep their promises. In other words, this year’s elections, the third in our new democratic dispensation, should be contested on policy issues rather than on who is the youngest, oldest or most handsome to be president. A president elected on policy promises would appreciate that s/he owes it to the nation to deliver on those promises; this is because there is no greater fraud than a promise not kept.
Against this backdrop, one such issue of national importance that should exercise the minds of most Sierra Leoneans is the Bumbuna Hydro-electric Project. This project has been around for decades dating back to the era of the late President Siaka P. Stevens. In recent times, it has received a breath of fresh air with (continued) investments from the government of Sierra Leone, the International Development Association, the African Development Bank, Government of Italy, etc, etc and the expectation is that it will soon come to fruition sometime this year.
The Bumbuna project has also attracted a number of evaluation reports and academic research studies. The most recent of these is the study conducted by Bakar Mansaray and Anshuman Khare published in the international journal, Problems and Perspectives in Management (Vol. 5 No. 1, 2007) and also carried by the Patriotic Vanguard on 02 March 2007.
Although Mansaray and Khare’s study is not a blueprint for the government of Sierra Leone to follow, yet it presents an independent, bias-free, thoughtful and well-researched analysis of the opportunities and challenges this new national asset will create once it starts oozing out electricity. If anything, amidst the plethora of studies on the Bumbuna project, some of which are cited in Mansaray and Khare’s article, one expects that any serious and well-meaning political party should set out policy options to realise the objectives of this project.
With this article, it is hoped the main political parties and their presidential candidates will take the initiative to come out before July 28 with policy issues regarding the Bumbuna dam. Sierra Leoneans deserve a promise from these presidential aspirants as to what their leadership will deliver with the Bumbuna dam to hand. This is very important because by the time the new Bumbuna Hydro-electric Company Limited takes off, as a country, our debt or investment in this project would have exceeded US$91.80million.
With such investment and after all these years, it is of great concern to note that if the implementation phase of this project is not well managed, “the maximum benefits of the project might not be realized”. There are inbuilt mechanisms that should facilitate the success of this project like the creation of a Cabinet subcommittee to serve as a policy-making body and a Programme Implementation Unit to supervise the remainder of work to be done and serve as a link between both local and international stakeholders.
Without sounding pessimistic but offering genuine project implementation/management strategies and approaches, Mansaray and Khare note that not much good will come out of strategies that are devoid of wise leadership and good governance. Accordingly, they suggest that if the Bumbuna Project is to succeed, the government will have to provide a clear sense of direction, combat nepotism, tribalism, and corruption; be less dependent on donors, and be more proactive in determining demand and supply of sources of energy.
Mansaray and Khare’s study is timely. Commentators and those interested in the forthcoming elections should use it to call upon all presidential candidates to give the electorates their take on the Bumbuna project. Sierra Leoneans cannot afford to see this project fail in its implementation phase. The debts accumulated over these years should be paid off by operations of this project. Certainly, we should not expect that there would be another wave of debt cancellations ten or fifteen years down the road to get Sierra Leone out of it indebtedness.
It is similarly unfair for our generation to continue to keep future generations in debt all because of poor leadership of today. Posterity will hold us all responsible. A one time US president succinctly observed that “each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations (James Madison, 4th U.S. President (1751-1836)). Indeed, this generation cannot be excused if it failed to ask its politicians for policy promises upon which they (the politicians) will be judged in the future. So this is the time appropriate policy issue questions should be asked. Responses will be recorded and referred to at a later date to remind leaders of their promises and to demand that they fulfill those promises.
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